


The Gift of Friendship

by Iaveina



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AH Fantasy AU, Gen, Kiddie fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 01:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1114042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iaveina/pseuds/Iaveina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alone and freezing in a foreign land, a young Gavin Free only wanted to find somewhere warm to sleep. He didn’t expect to be caught, and he certainly didn’t expect to welcomed into the Turney household like an old friend. Fantasy AU Turnfree friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gift of Friendship

“If anyone’s in here I’m warning you! I’ve got a sword and I’m not afraid to use it!”

Gavin jerked awake, hand twitching instinctively towards the bow he could blearily see the outline of through tired eyes and dim torchlight, before almost choking at the hay he inhaled in surprise. Beneath him his impromptu bed rustled as he moved, and he watched with wide hazel eyes as the person wielding the torch moved closer to the ledge he’d been sleeping on.

He gulped.

“I know you’re there!” The voice was high - definitely female - and young-sounding; and it was this observation alone that made Gavin shuffle on his knees towards the edge of the ledge and peer over.

The girl standing on the ground was about his age, pre-teen, with coppery red hair pulled into pigtails and a pair of wide-rimmed glasses sat on her nose. She wore a thick moss green coat, tied at the waist with a brown leather belt, that was appropriate to the weather (Gavin could see little tufts of fur peaking out from the sleeves and hood) and he shivered at his lack of planning; winters on the Eira-Erzielen border were proving to be harsher than he’d anticipated and he was already starting to forget what being warm felt like. The girl’s preparedness for the weather made him rather embarrassed to be clothed in a simple village-wear and a travelling cloak, all desperately ill equipped for the cold.

In her hands she held a torch - its flame dimly lighting up the small barn - and a sword that looked far too big for her, probably her father’s if Gavin had to guess. She glowered at him as he came into view and hefted the sword up in a manner that looked anything but threatening.

“What d’you think you’re doing Mister! Breaking into my Dad’s barn? He’ll be  _so_  mad!” She chastised, levelling the sword at him; the weight of it making her arm tremble.

“I didn’t break in!” He called back, holding out his hands to show that he wasn’t threatening. “The door was open, and all I wanted to do was find a place to sleep. Honest!”

The girl let the sword drop with a surprised look on her face. “You’re a kid!”

“So what?” Gavin groaned, shifting back on the ledge so that the girl could barely see him. “So’re you!”

“Your accent is so  _cute!_  Awww, come down here. I don’t bite!” The girl sang, rocking on the balls of her feet; her boots crunching into the dirt. “My name’s Meg, what’s yours?”

He peeked out further, carefully staring at Meg before he sat up - swinging his legs around and off the side of the ledge. “‘m Gavin.”

Meg grinned toothily. “Hi Gavin! D’you wanna come down from there?”

“No,” Gavin replied, fervently shaking his head. “I’m good up here.”

The red-head huffed. “Well, if you stay up there then you’re gonna miss out on my Mom’s cooking. She always makes too much, so I’m pretty sure you could join us.”

“I’m…” He fumbled for the word, lips pouting as his mind ran through what words he knew in this language that would fit the situation. “ _Trespassing_  on your land and you want to invite me in for dinner?”

“You’re a kid,” Meg shrugged, unconcerned. “And you were lookin’ for a place to sleep, so  _I_  think you need help - and my Dad always told me to help people who need it and you need it.”

Gavin couldn’t deny it, try as he might, and he reached over behind him for his backpack and bow - pushing aside mounds of hay that he’d moved about in sleep. He arranged both on his back, a motion so familiar he barely thought on it, before sliding down the ladder to the ground floor of the barn.

Meg’s grin was blinding up close,and Gavin shifted awkwardly as her hazel-brown eyes scanned him, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks before he could stop it as she giggled. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

It was a lot colder down below Gavin thought; light shivers spreading throughout his body and his teeth chattering. “What gave it away?”

“You’re so not dressed for snow! You’re gonna freeze!” Meg rolled her eyes at stating the obvious, turning on her heel and making her way towards the barn door with a spring in her step.

“It’s not snowing,” Gavin responded, his eyes widening. He knew that if it  _did_ snow he wouldn’t last long out there.

“It’s gonna,” Meg’s matter-of-fact reply made his heart sink, and she half-turned to him with an eyebrow raised. “The air smells like snow, and it’s super cold.” She pulled open the door, allowing a rush of cold air to gleefully enter the barn, and stepped out into the darkened yard. Gavin wrapped his arms around himself tightly and followed her out into the night.

The trip from the barn to the house was a short one - the house easy to see due to the lights in the windows (lights Gavin hadn’t seen when he’d slipped into the barn hours earlier) - and the welcome heat inside was sorely welcomed. Gavin stood awkwardly in the doorway, moving out of the way as Meg shut the door behind him and was torn between melting into the warmth or giving way to the leftover tremors.

“Megan sweetie, if you’ve finished ou-oh, who’s your friend?”

Gavin winced, unprepared for the quick arrival of a woman who was undoubtedly Meg’s mother (if the similarity in hair colour and face shape was anything to go by). She was tall, taller than his own mother, dressed in warm clothes with a friendly look on her face despite her confusion. Gavin shied away, shuffling his feet and trying to find the words to reply as Meg grinned brightly.

“This is Gavin,” she announced cheerfully, pulling off her coat and standing on tiptoes to hang it up on a nearby peg. She dumped the sword unceremoniously against the wall. “He’s my friend, can he stay for dinner?”

Meg’s mother didn’t answer immediately, instead she raised an eyebrow and carefully looked at Gavin with sharp eyes; he instantly knew that she was searching for something, her maternal protectiveness seeing if he was a threat to her family. Gavin gulped and looked down at the floor, trying to take in as much warmth as possible before Meg’s mother said no and-

“Of course,” Meg’s mother’s voice was soft, and Gavin looked up in surprise as the woman approached him with a small comforting smile. She motioned to his bow. “Would you like me to hang that up for you?

“Will I get it back?” Gavin asked anxiously, a hand reaching up to grip the wooden tip of the bow. “I won’t use it, I promise!”

“Of course you’ll get it back sweetheart,” Meg’s mother replied, concern layering her tone. Gavin bit his lip, looking between the two confused females before slowly easing his bow from where it sat slung across his body. Meg’s mother smiled reassuringly, gently taking it from his grasp and propping it up on a peg by the door.

“You should hang up your cloak too, you won’t need it in here!” Gavin wasn’t prepared to be physically wrestled out of cloak, but he soon found himself without it as Meg stood on tiptoes to hang it onto the same peg as the bow, a satisfied look on her face.

“Megan!”

“ _What?_ ” Meg groaned, grabbing Gavin’s wrist and pulling him forward past her mother. “I was helping!”

Meg’s mother hummed slightly before rolling her eyes. “Dinner’s nearly ready, go and show Gavin where he can wash his hands.”

“Okie dokie,” Meg chimed, pulling Gavin up the stairs. “Mom always makes us wash our hands before eating, it can be a real pain sometimes.”

“It’s okay,” Gavin reassured her, following her as she led the way along the upstairs hallway. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay? I mean, your mum’s cooked food for you lot…”

“She always cooks a lot of food during Arazeit, so there’s plenty to go around!”

“Arazeit?” Gavin asked, rolling the unfamiliar word around his tongue. Meg froze, dropping his wrist and spinning to look at him in shock.

“You don’t know what Arazeit is?!” She gasped, her jaw dropping at Gavin’s tentative shake of his head. “Y’know, the winter festival? Where we give thanks to the Gods for…” She narrowed her eyes, pouting slightly in thought before she shrugged. “Well, everything I guess.”

Gavin shook his head again. “Nope. Never heard of it.”

“You’re missing out!” Meg enthused with a grin. “There’s a  _lot_  of food, and singing, and  _presents!_ ” She bounced further down the hallway. “It’s _amazing_!!”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Gavin grinned, following closely behind her. “It sounds pretty cool.”

“It’s  _very_  cool!” Meg threw open a door at the end of the hallway and gestured wildly. “Here’s the bathroom! You can wash up in here and then come downstairs for dinner, okay?”

“Don’t you need to wash up too?”

“I’ll do that downstairs, but I figured that if you’re gonna stay here you’ll need to know where the bathroom is.  _I_  like to think ahead,” she replied, skipping down the hallway to the top of the stairs. “Don’t be too long! Dinner’s gonna be served soon!”

Gavin quietly shut the bathroom door, shuffling over to the sink and staring at his reflection in the mirror; frowning at how pale and washed-out he looked whilst running a hand through longer-than-normal hair. He looked a mess and he knew it, unable to shake the hollow feeling reflected in his eyes as he splashed water on his face and ran his hands under the warm tap water with soap before making his way back downstairs, following the low buzz of conversation towards where Meg and her family were gathered.

Dinner was a fairly awkward affair, with Meg’s parents subtly asking him questions he didn’t want to answer (and try as he might to avoid giving anything away he knew that they both saw right through him) whilst her siblings kept shooting him curious glances when they thought he wasn’t looking. Meg herself effortlessly kept the conversation going and offered him more food than he could possibly eat at every available opportunity, as well as effectively distracting everybody at the table by revealing that he didn’t know what Arazeit was.

“Usually,” Meg’s mother began, getting up from the table and retrieving an elaborate candle holder from the living room. She returned, leaning past her children to place it in the middle of the table, and smiled kindly at Gavin. “After dinner we’d light candles and sing carols, but you don’t have to worry about knowing the words - they’re really easy to learn as you go along.”

Lighting the candles seemed to be a family affair, with a lit match being carefully passed around the table, before Meg’s father - a rather intimidating man with a moustache who had spent the majority of dinner watching him carefully - began to sing; his rich baritone filling the room and making goosebumps spring up along Gavin’s arms.

“ _O grace, behest of man_ …”

One by one the rest of Meg’s family joined in, lending their voices in way that was by no means professional but held the air of practiced ease that had Gavin stunned. He turned his head, catching Meg’s cheerful gaze as she joined in the carol, and sent a small smile her way. She raised an eyebrow and leant towards him.

“C’mon, join in!” She whispered. Gavin shook his head.

“I don’t know the words….”

“Pfft, it’s real easy, just listen!”

The carol was fairly long, but Gavin soon noticed that the chorus was repeated and some of the later lyrics were easy to guess; enabling him to tentatively join in, carefully keeping his voice quiet despite the encouraging looks from Meg’s family.

The evening flew by in a flurry of song and he soon found himself being dragged into the living room by a cheery, but clearly tired, Meg, who pushed a bundle of soft blankets into his arms.

“You can sleep here tonight,” she declared, gesturing towards the comfortable-looking sofa that sat in front of a warm-but-slowly-dying fire. “My parents don’t mind, and it’s a lot better than sleeping in the barn!”

Gavin held the blankets close to his chest as he sat on the sofa, swallowing heavily as his mind searched for the right words to say in reply. “You’ve already done so much for me…”

Meg rolled her eyes, her hands on her hips and her stance strong and defiant. “It’s  _nothing_  Gav, I’m just glad we could help!” She pursued her lips, eyes lighting up as she remembered something, and she darted across the room towards a cabinet in the corner; returning with a small, wrapped package. She thrust it in his direction. “So, usually we give presents on Arazeit. I asked my Mom and Dad and they agreed that we could give you _this_. It was supposed to be for my older brother, but he’s away training in the Capital… it’ll be more useful to you I think.”

Gavin stared at her, his jaw slowly dropping and his eyes widening. “You _really_  don’t ne-”

“We  _want_  to. Go on! Open it!”

With shaking hands he accepted the package, placing it gently into his lap and delicately unwrapping it. Across from him, Meg watched him with eager and impatient eyes as she dropped onto the sofa beside him, her hands itching to unwrap it faster.

Once revealed, a sturdy-looking dagger sat amongst the wrappings; a simple bronze hilt set on a sharp silver blade that - when he picked it up - rested comfortably in his grip as if it were made for him and not for another. He exhaled shakily, looking up to meet Meg’s excited gaze with wide eyes.

“Meg, I can’t accept thi-”

“ _Yes_  you can, and you  _will_ ,” Meg exclaimed with a pout.. “You might end up in a situation where you can’t use your bow and you’ll need this.”

Gavin gulped, carefully looking at the blade with dawning amazement. “I don’t have anything for you.”

Meg grinned, jumping to her feet and winking at him. “Your accent is present enough.” She replied, spinning on her heel and bounding towards the stairs. “Goodnight!”

With a heavy heart, and after a week staying with Meg’s family, Gavin found himself carefully unhooking his cloak and bow from the peg they’d been set on. The house was dark and silent, its occupants asleep in their beds, and as Gavin quietly donned the cloak and slung the bow across his back - readjusting his backpack so that it sat more comfortably against his spine - he couldn’t help but feel grateful for their help and guilty at having to leave; unable to face them in goodbye incase they tried to make him stay.

He slipped out of the front door, checking that the knife he’d been gifted with was securely tied to his belt, before stepping out into what was left of the snow towards where he knew the main road to be; not knowing exactly where his destination would be but knowing that he had at least one friend in this strange and foreign land. 


End file.
